We have arrived safely in beautiful Castleton after a pretty long journey! We all enjoyed our tea before heading off on a nice evening stroll. Tomorrow, we are looking forward to taking part in lots of different activities!
July 12th
We have had a great first full day! The day started with a hearty English breakfast and then we all headed off to our first activity. Some of us started the day going underground to explore Bagshaw Cave. We had to climb down over 90 steps and wiggle through some tight spots and we were all really proud of ourselves. Others scrambled over Higger Tor in weaselling, climbing over rocks and burrowing through nooks and crannies! After all our activities, we were ready for lunch and enjoyed delicious burgers and chips. This afternoon, we took on another activity. Again, some of us headed to Bagshaw Cave whilst others constructed an unsinkable raft and flew down the zipwire! Other groups tackled the High Ropes course which saw us doing Leap of Faith, Wobbly Bridge and Vines. Some of us even took on a further challenge, working as a group to climb a very tall pole before putting our trust in each other to lean back off the platform! After dinner this evening, we had great fun playing Beetle Drive and working in teams to take part in a quiz. We are all looking forward to tomorrow when we will climb Mam Tor and explore Castleton.
July 13th
The sun was shining on us today as we got our walking boots on, ready to tackle Mam Tor! We had a steep climb up to the summit (517 metres) but luckily Mrs Deatker was well-prepared with polos to keep us going. When we got to the top, we were all amazed by the beautiful views and enjoyed a well-earned rest. After a short break, we continued on our walk, with some of us challenging ourselves to climb to the top of another hill to see even more of the surrounding countryside. The walk back down was a little muddy but we all agreed that the hard work was definitely worth the views and sense of achievement felt when we got back to the Centre.
This afternoon, we headed into Castleton with our first stop being Peveril Castle. We had to face more steps to climb up to the castle keep which we enjoyed exploring. From this vantage point, we could look out to Mam Tor and realised how far we had walked this morning. The rest of the time was spent wandering around the shops buying souvenirs and ice cream.
After tea, we wrote our postcards, tidied our rooms for inspection and then enjoyed some fun team games outside. Then we headed off to bed to get a good night’s sleep ready for our last full day tomorrow!
July 14th
What an action-packed last full day we have had! Today, we all conquered our final challenges with some of us heading to Bagshaw Cave or Carl Walk to explore underground. We had to squeeze through tight gaps, wade through large puddles and got to experience true darkness. Other groups worked together to build their raft before facing each other in a competitive race (which saw Miss Legood falling in the water at the very beginning!). The zip wire was enjoyed by both groups today, who all enjoyed flying through the air. Weaselling proved to be very popular again, with the group today becoming experts at bouldering and scrambling over the rocky terrain. Facing our fears on the high ropes was also a feature of today, with children flinging themselves off the Leap of Faith in record-speed time!
This evening, we packed and tidied our rooms and then headed outside for some games or final practising ready for the Talent Show. This year, we had a huge range of talents from singing to comic routines. After some time chatting about our favourite parts of the trip (and there were lots!), we headed to bed ready to come home tomorrow.
